COMMUNICATION CHANNELS PERFORMERS AND LISTENERS USE: A SURVEY STUDY

Performers and listeners (or audience) communicate with each other in music performances. Many researchers that investigated musical communication focused on communication only via musical sound. Further, in many live performances (especially popular music performance) it has been observed empirically that various kinds of inter-performer, performer-listener, or inter-listener communication occur. This has been examined in previous studies, but only for specific channels. However, it is important to clarify the frequency of usage and importance of communication channels, in order to illustrate the whole process of communication in music performance. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore communication channels extensively. To this end, an investigation was conducted on various performers and listeners based on a communication process model. The results suggested that performers often interact with each other using mainly gaze and breathing channels, not only musical sound, and secondly body movement and facial expression. In addition, transmitted signals and received signals indicated a similar tendency. In performer-listener interaction, transmitted signals and received signals indicated a different pattern. Facial expression and body movement were highly rated, and language was important only as a received signal. It was implied that inter-audience communication rarely occurred, and, even if it exists, a listener only receives signals from other audience, but does not consciously send these signals. This study represents a first step of a broader research that will contribute to the presentation of an overview of communication in music performance.